Election NewsClicks

All elections >
All categories

Orange County Election Data Brief: Voters 18-35 years old made up 61% of all new registrations on last day

November 6, 2016 - On the last day to register to vote (October 24th) the vast majority of new registrations were from new voters 18-35 years old - 61% of all of the registrations fell into this category. 6,311 were voters 18-25 years old and 3,176 were from voters 26-35 years old. It was a busy day with a record number of new registrations - here's the total breakdown:

Orange County's Voting Tip of the Day: Time running out? Mail your ballot by Election Day

November 5, 2016 - With Election Day rapidly approaching we are encouraging voters to mail their ballot as soon as possible. The good news is that recent changes to California law allow voters to mail their ballots on (or before) Election Day. As long as the ballot is post-marked on or before November 8th your ballot will count. Prefer to drop off at a polling place? No problem - we are ready for you. There are nearly 1,100 choices for you at one of our many Orange County polling places. Plus, you don't have to wait in line when you drop off your ballot - just walk up to any poll worker and let them know you are dropping off your ballot - it's that easy! Happy voting!

Orange County Election Data Brief: The trend continues for young voters and vote-by-mail ballots

November 5, 2016 - With nearly half-a-million ballots returned through the mail, young voters are sitting this election out - at least for now. Just 6% (22,632) of ballots have been returned by voters 18-25 years old. Here's the overall breakdown:

6%, 22,6432, have been returned by 18-25 year olds

9%, 34,181, have been returned by 26-35 year olds

10%, 40,051, by 36-45 year olds

16%, 65,135 by 46-55 year olds

22%, 87,688 by 56-65 year olds

38%, 149,998 by 66+ year olds

Clearly the most active demographic - voters 66+ in age are making sure their vote is cast early. This is good news overall - nearly 50% of Orange County's vote-by-mail voters have cast their ballot early. This will ensure they don't have to wait in line on Election Day, which could see record turnout.

November 3, 2016 - As of today vote-by-mail returns stand at 384,675 - that is 8.6% ahead of the same period in 2012. How do the returns compare by party? In 2012, the final vote-by-mail ballot returns were made up of 284,647 Republicans, 186,462 Democrat, and 112,438 No Party Preference. As of today the party breakdown by parties is 169,520 Republican, 137,325 Democrat and 74,978 No Party Preference. In 2012 Republicans returned vote-by-mail ballots at an increased rate of 52.6% over Democrats. As of today Republicans have returned ballots at an increased rate of 23.4% over Democrats.

Public Notice of Random Draw for Presidential General Election

November 2, 2016 - Pursuant to California Election Code section 15360 (d) this serves as public notice that we will be conducting a random draw of 1% of our precincts in the November 8, 2016 General Election to be used in a manual tally of votes cast. This manual tally is used to verify the electronic tally of our voting system and the vote-by-mail tally system. The random draw will occur on Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. The manual tallies will follow the random draw and will take place until complete. Both processes are open to the public. Our office is located at 1300 South Grand Avenue, Building C, Santa Ana, California.

November 1, 2016 - We believe transparency is important and welcome those who wish to observe on Election Day in polling places. However, it's important for members of the public to understand what is (and what is not) allowed in a polling place as an observer. We are offering training for those interested in observing as a member of the public - the training is free and spots are still available for our November 3rd training (which will be taking place at 1:30 p.m. at our Santa Ana office - 1300 South Grand Avenue, Building C). Sign up by visiting our website ocvote.com.

Orange County's Voting Tip of the Day: Be careful to not include two ballots in your envelope

October 28, 2016 - We feel that it's important to remind voters to only include their voted ballot in the ballot return envelope (not additional ballots). Occasionally we receive two ballots in one return envelope - and it almost always is the ballot of the spouse, significant other, child, etc. When two are included it's impossible to determine which ballot should be applied to the voter in the household. To be fair, this is a very small number, but it is our desire to ensure that every vote is counted - take a moment to review that you've only included the ballot you have voted in your return envelope.

With either choice you've avoided what could be peak times in your polling place. And in case you're not aware - these ballots are counted exactly like an "Election Day" ballot - there is no difference. Every ballot cast must be counted and is verified by post-election audits.